THE WILDEST EXPENSE CLAIMS FROM B.C. REPORT.
The B.C. legislature’s suspended clerk and sergeant-at-arms are being accused of hundreds of thousands of dollars in “flagrant overspending” in a report produced Monday by Speaker Darryl Plecas. Clerk Craig James and sergeant-at-arms Gary Lenz claimed inappropriate expenses, went on lavish foreign trips during which little work was done, and handed out questionable retirement and pay benefits, according to the report. In a statement the men said, “To be clear, at no time over the last weeks or months did Mr. Plecas provide us with information about these allegations or give us any opportunity to respond. He must have deliberately chosen to prepare his report without giving us any chance to respond. We can only ask: ‘Why?’ To be publicly accused of these things after months of secret investigation without being given any chance to respond is contrary to all principles of fairness and decent treatment. It is contrary to how our public institutions should treat people. It is contrary to how the Speaker of the Legislature should act.” The report adds that one area of great concern was that under the system the expenses were all approved. Here are some of the wildest expenses according to the 76-page report.
$3K WOOD SPLITTER
A wood splitter costing $3,200.91 was purchased by the B.C. legislative assembly, but was never delivered there. The report claims it was delivered to James’ personal residence where it was used by James and Lenz. The receipt for the splitter said it would be picked up by a “Craig.” The RCMP is now in possession of the wood splitter. A trailer costing more than $10,000 was also purchased and it later materialized in the assembly’s parking lot, though no one knows for sure how it got there. “The justification for the Legislative Assembly purchasing the wood splitter was that if a crisis situation befell the Legislative Assembly and if in the course of that crisis a tree fell on the Legislature grounds, there could be a need to split the tree up for firewood for use at the Legislature,” the report reads. “The Speaker has difficulty accepting that rationale, as the scenario seems very remote, and in any event — even assuming external Emergency Services were not able to attend and handle this scenario — a chainsaw and axe would appear to suffice. “It is difficult to understand how it assisted the Legislative Assembly to have the machine at Mr. James’ house, being used for his personal purposes.”
VACATION PAYOUTS
The report states that several hundred thousands of dollars were paid out to James and Lenz in allegedly unused and rolled-over vacation days. The department has policies against rolling over more than five days per year and using fewer than 15 vacation days per year. In 2015, James used just six of his allotted 35 vacation days. He was paid out for 29 days. In 2018, Lenz was paid out 49 days, which included rolled-over days, and was allotted 35. The report estimates the payouts have amounted to 20 per cent of their salaries in some years. “Multiple witnesses with relevant first-hand knowledge informed the Speaker that both Mr. James and Mr. Lenz make a regular practice of receiving payment in lieu of their vacation days. Witnesses also stated that Mr. James and Mr. Lenz appeared to regularly take time off and holidays, but often do not record these as official vacation days. In Mr. James’ case, for example, it was observed by a number of witnesses that he was rarely to be seen at work on Fridays,” says the report. “A review of relevant records confirms that Mr. James and Mr. Lenz record almost no official vacation — and in Mr. Lenz’s case, there have been years in which he has taken zero officially-recorded holidays, and instead been paid out in lieu for the entirety of his vacation days.”
LUGGAGE
During a five month period, James bought luggage totalling $2,135.87. This included, during a trip to Hong Kong, a Victorinox luggage set with free giveaways that included a toiletries bag and a “pouch.”
VERY FANCY CABS
Rather than take a regular taxi or public transit, James routinely booked rides through executive travel companies. They were then expensed to the Legislative Assembly. One trip, on Aug. 6, from the Park Plaza Hotel, London, to Ettington, about two hours away, cost more than $900. Roundtrips to and from Heathrow and the Park Plaza Hotel cost $300 each way on Dec. 2 and 6, 2017. The costs from December 2017 to August 2018 totalled $3,037.40 for eight trips.
MUSIC & MAGAZINES
James had his Apple Music subscription claimed as a business expense, as well as iCloud storage subscription. Other digital subscriptions included newspapers, which the report said could be justified as a business expense. But others seemed to be more personal in nature: Bicycling magazine, Electric Bike Action magazine, Palm Springs Life magazine, Arizona Highways magazine, Marine Traffic – Ship Tracking and Popular Mechanics. In one month, claims for digital subscriptions totalled $720.47.
AT THE GIFT SHOPS
James made reimbursement
claims for several purchases at gift shops during his trip to London which the report says are hard to justify as business expenses. They include: diaries, notebooks, chocolate bars, Royal Wedding memorabilia, books, card games and cufflinks. The items totalled more than $1,300 over almost 10 days.
At the National Gallery art museum he bought a book, “Make Great Art on Your Own”. At the National Portrait Gallery he bought Monarchy, card game (the report notes: a claim for 2 x “Shakespeare” card games appears to have been denied.) At the Houses of Parliament he paid just over $44 for two books, Quotable Churchill and Gimson’s Prime Ministers, to add to other books he later bought: Queen Elizabeth II and The Gunpowder Plot.
U.K. TRIP EXPENSES
The report states that three-meal per diems were claimed on every day of the trip by James, including the first, when the “business” portion of the day only began at 6:30 p.m. Lenz claimed a meal reimbursement of $487.91 for dinner at the Royal Air Force Club. James and Plecas were both there, too, but did not claim this reimbursement. Though James claimed an additional meal per diem for that day. They also bought “uniforms” (read: suits and shirts) at a shop in London called Ede & Ravenscroft on Aug. 3. James bought a charcoal suit, bookmarks and two other items totalling $1,327.29. “Black court suit” is handwritten on the receipt. Lenz purchased an onyx and silver stud set, a mother-of-pearl stud set, mother-of-pearl cufflinks, and a Marcella wing shirt at a total cost of $666.11.